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Accused son and father killers Norm Cocks, 31, and Robert Cocks, 52, are featured in this photo. Norman Cocks and Robert Thomas, both with the Kelowna chapter of the biker gang, pleaded guilty to manslaughter last week before Associate Chief Justice Austin Cullen.

Photograph by: Handout
, Special to the Sun

Two full-patch Hells Angels struck unarmed Kelowna dad Dain Phillips in the head with a baseball bat and hammer as his two sons watched in horror, B.C. Supreme Court heard Monday.

Crown prosecutor Joe Bellows said in his opening statement at the trial of Robert Cocks, Daniel McRae, Matthew McRae and Anson Schell that the 2011 attack on Phillips stemmed from a petty feud between his sons and the McRae brothers.

"The two sets of brothers would argue with each other, push and shove each other, occasionally exchange punches and Facebook insults," Bellows said.

Hells Angels Norman Cocks and Robert Thomas — who pleaded guilty to manslaughter Thursday for their role in the slaying — got involved because Daniel McRae was a close friend of Cocks, Bellows said.

A new indictment was read in a Vancouver courtroom Monday, charging the four Hells Angels associates with manslaughter instead of the original second-degree murder charge. Each stood and entered not guilty pleas.

Phillips, 51, was trying to resolve the conflict when he met with Thomas, Cocks and the four HA associates on McCurdy Road outside Kelowna at 6:40 p.m. June 12, Bellows said.

He said Thomas got out of his truck and "started skipping towards Dain Phillips yelling 'You want to f--- with the Hells Angels?' "

Before striking Phillips the first time with a bat, Thomas said: "It doesn't matter, big man. You're getting it," according to the Crown.

Seconds later, Thomas hit Phillips twice in the leg with a baseball bat, but the former semi-pro hockey player didn't fall.

"Using both hands [Thomas] delivered a forceful blow to the top of Phillips's head with a baseball bat," Bellows said.

Cocks then got out of a truck and joined in, striking Phillips "on the top of the head with a ball-peen hammer. Phillips then collapsed on the road."

When Cocks, 33, and Thomas, 49, pleaded guilty to manslaughter last week for their role in the slaying, it was the first time in B.C. that Hells Angels have been convicted of killing someone. They will be sentenced Wednesday.

Bellows said Cocks's dad Robert, the McRae brothers and Schell began to kick Phillips after he collapsed onto the ground from the force of the blows to his head.

He said Phillips and his sons Kody and Kaylin were unarmed during the attack, but had agreed to meet after Daniel McRae called the brothers to work things out.

Earlier on June 12, Kaylin Phillips had run into Daniel McRae and Norm Cocks while he and his girlfriend were at a local recycling depot.

Cocks mistakenly called Kaylin "Kody," Bellows said.

When Kaylin corrected the Hells Angel, "Cocks pointed to a tattoo on his forearm and said 'Do you see this tattoo?' Cocks punched Phillips in the left cheek with a closed fist," Bellows said. "The tattoo Cocks showed Phillips was a tattoo of Hells Angels colours consisting of the death-head logo with the words 'British Columbia' under it."

Bellows said Cocks also told Kaylin to warn his little brother that "the HAs are looking for him."

When the two groups met later in the day, both had extra people with them. Kaylin and Kody, as well as others who were with the accused but not involved in the attack, are expected to testify at the judge-alone trial, Bellows said.

At the time of the killing, Norm Cocks was the target of a separate police investigation that involved both remote surveillance and wiretaps, Bellows said.

An officer turned on a camera set up outside Cocks's house about 6:25 p.m. on June 12 and began to watch what was unfolding from another location, Bellows said.

The Mountie saw Thomas put a baseball bat in his truck. At 6:35, six young males — including some of the accused — got into another vehicle and left. Cocks then joined Thomas in his truck and also left, Bellows said.

Thomas and Norm Cocks and his dad Robert were seen returning to the house about 6:45 p.m., Bellows said.

The fatal beating took place half a kilometre from Cocks's house and lasted just three minutes.

Bellows said all of the accused were wearing gloves at the time of the attack. Dain Phillips's DNA was found on the handle of a hammer located in Cocks's garage.

Phillips was taken off life support about 8 a.m. on June 13, surrounded by his family.

Bellows said an autopsy showed that a blow to his forehead had killed him. There were no defensive wounds on his hands, knuckles or arms.

Accused son and father killers Norm Cocks, 31, and Robert Cocks, 52, are featured in this photo. Norman Cocks and Robert Thomas, both with the Kelowna chapter of the biker gang, pleaded guilty to manslaughter last week before Associate Chief Justice Austin Cullen.

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